The present invention is directed to a shelf-stable cookie dough confection, a product comprising the shelf-stable cookie dough confection packaged in a sanitary package, an apparatus for metering and dispensing a compressible confection, and a process for packaging the compressible confection.
Traditionally, raw cookie dough was merely the intermediate product of the desired product, the baked cookie. Cookies were either made at home, or were baked and packaged for distribution. In recent years, raw cookie dough has been packaged and distributed as such, to be formed into cookies and baked at home. The cookie itself has somewhat bowed in popularity to the rich, sweet and creamy texture of conventional raw cookie dough. Conventional raw cookie dough and products containing raw cookie dough, such as cookie dough ice-cream, have become increasingly popular. Typically, these products include real eggs and flour. To decrease the danger in eating these products, egg substitutes often replace eggs. However, even with the omission of real eggs, a danger remains under moist conditions as the flour and the proteins therein provide a harbor for bacteria. To prevent microbial growth, conventional raw cookie dough and products containing raw cookie dough require refrigeration and, as such, are not shelf-stable. A shelf-stable cookie dough would therefore be of great importance.
Conventional raw cookie-dough has traditionally been packaged in what is known in the art as a chub-pack. The chub-pack, typically, comprises a thin plastic casing in the form of a tube encasing the cookie dough. Each end of the plastic casing is clinched with a metal band. Despite the bands, when not refrigerated the fat in the product can wick out of the clinched ends, resulting in exposure to air, moisture and contamination. A shelf-stable cookie dough product comprising a shelf-stable cookie dough confection packaged in a sanitary package would therefore be a great improvement.
Once a shelf-stable cookie dough confection was invented in accordance with the present invention, it was found to be compressible. In packaging processes, a compressible confection exhibits compression and relaxation phenomena. More specifically, the compression and relaxation phenomena occur when a compressible confection is initially forced to move through a process line. For example, because air cells are incorporated in an aerated fat used in the confection, the material initially does not move when pressure is applied. In fact, movement only occurs once the confection builds up a head pressure sufficient to overcome the flexing, or compressing, air cells. This is known as the compression phenomenon. Once the confection is moving, the majority of the pressure is stored in the furthest back portion of the confection in the line where pressure originated. Upon relieving the pressure to stop the flow, the partially compressed confection returns to its original form and the confection springs forward to equalize the pressure. This is known as the relaxation phenomenon. Thus, if the product is packaged using an intermittent flow system and a finite number of units per minute to fill the packaged product, the confection will not fill on immediate command due to the compression phenomenon, nor will the flow of the confection shut off on immediate command due to the relaxation phenomenon. These phenomena lead to inconsistent flow, or weight control, of the compressible confection in the final packaged product. Thus, a compressible confection requires unconventional pumping equipment for even flow, or weight control, of the final product. An apparatus and process for metering and dispensing a compressible confection capable of overcoming the compression and relaxation phenomena would be a significant contribution to the art of confection packaging.